All Chapters of The Cost of Saving Him: Chapter 101 - Chapter 110

-Mina- I looked into Luca’s eyes, feeling the weight of his words pressing on my chest like a vice. The room seemed to shrink, the air grew heavier, filled with the unspoken tension that had built up over months. My heart was pounding wildly, reflecting the danger of our true selves and the person I had become. I was no longer the broken girl who had struggled out of the abyss, but a woman with power flowing through her veins, just like him.“I want you,” I whispered, the words slipping out raw and unfiltered. “All of you.”His reaction was instant, a low growl rumbling from his throat as his composure broke. Luca’s mouth pressed against mine, not softly this time, but assertively, his tongue forcing its way past my lips to seize every inch. I tasted the whiskey on him, blended with the sharp edge of his desire, and I kissed him back with equal ferocity, my hands fisting his shirt to pull him closer.He shifted, his body pinning me to the bed, the blanket tangling around us as his w

-Mina-A few weeks later.The warehouse always felt different at night. The lights hummed like they were keeping secrets, and the concrete under my boots held a cold that climbed straight into my bones. I pretended the chill did not bother me, mainly because Rafael watched everything I did with the quiet patience of a man who had buried more friends than years he lived. His presence was a strange comfort, steady and unfazed, like Santo used to be, before dad shut him out, and before this life took him.Tony walked beside us, hands in his jacket pockets, constantly watching the shadows. He didn’t speak unless it was necessary, and tonight everything felt important. The message Alaric sent still weighed on us, a threat that tasted like iron and old blood. I tried not to think about the red writing or the picture of my window, but it clung to me like smoke.Rafael finally stopped near the loading bay doors, leaning one shoulder against the metal rail. He studied me the way a man studies

– Luciano –Tony shut the door behind me, and the silence of the hall hit harder than anything that happened in that room. The air still carried her warmth, the ghost of her perfume, and the charge of the way she looked at me before he walked in. I forced my hands to relax at my sides. If I let myself feel it, I’d turn back and make everything worse than it already was.The guard at the end of the hall straightened when he saw me. His eyes flicked to the closed door and back to my face. He didn’t say a word. Wise men in this house don’t when they see something they don’t want to explain. I walked past him without slowing down. The whole place felt off balance, like the foundation shifted while we weren’t looking.Downstairs, the warehouse hum settled into a steady hum. Generators buzzed under the floor. Radios cracked softly. Men moved through corridors more quietly than usual, sensing the shift without knowing its cause. They knew Mina was staying here. They knew Frankie walked out o

-Luciano-Frankie entered at dawn, boots scraping across the concrete as if he'd walked through every ghost in the city. His jacket was half unzipped, and his shirt was damp with sweat. He closed the warehouse door with a soft thud that sounded louder than a gunshot. I watched him cross the floor without looking my way, which felt worse than if he had shouted.The reports from the raids were stacked on the table. Mina had fallen asleep two hours earlier with the files open in her lap. Rafael carried her upstairs without waking her, and the sight of it scraped something raw inside me. Frankie wiped a hand down his face and finally looked at me. There was no anger left in his eyes. Just exhaustion and something colder.“You got what you needed tonight,” he said. His voice was low but steady. “Three hits. Three routes cut. You won.” I didn’t answer. He took one step closer. “So tell me this. How long are you going to pretend this is about Alaric and not about her.”The warehouse was stil

-Mina-Weeks passed before the city finally stopped holding its breath. The noise never completely disappeared, but it eased into something darker and quieter. The kind of calm that only happens when everyone knows blood is about to spill. I learned how to read that silence quickly.We met in a warehouse that officially belonged to no one. It sat between Gambino territory and what used to be Moretti land, neutral in the way only temporary alliances are. Concrete floors, steel tables, armed men lining the walls like furniture. This was not a peace meeting; it was a planning room for murder.Luciano stood at the head of the table, calm and precise. He wore black, as he always did when working, no jacket, and his sleeves rolled up just enough to remind everyone who he was. The Don never raised his voice.Frankie sat to his right, with perfect posture and a composed expression. He issued orders when asked and kept his eyes on the maps. In public, he was reliable. In private, he still avoi